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Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Wayanad

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Subject: Wildlife Studies × Author: Ajisha, S × End date: 2016 × Start date: 2016 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT HABITATS ON OCCURRENCE OF ASIAN SMALL-CLAWED OTTER (Aonyx cinerea. Illeger, 1815) IN WAYANAD, KERALA, INDIA
    (Kerala Veterinary and animal science university, Pookode, 2016-05-12) Ajisha, S; George Chandy
    Aonyx cinerea is a threatened mammal belongs to Mustelidae family, largely due to adverse anthropogenic activities such as sand mining, poaching, misuse of pesticides in agriculture, habitat loss and conversion of natural forest to plantations. In the present study mainly focuses the occurrence of this species in different habitat, which are adjacent to forest areas and hence the occurrence of several large mammals and other invertebrates reside in these plantations. Field sampling was carried out from January to May 2015, which was the driest period of the year and considered an ideal time for sampling otters. The South Wayanad division was divided into four sectors based on location and habitat types namely forests, coffee plantations, tea plantations and paddy fields. Equal number of transects were allotted to each vegetation (ten transects in each vegetation). In each habitat type, samplings for indirect and direct evidence of otter occupancy was carried out along a 500 m transect which was further divided into twenty 25 meter sub-sections. For each 25 meter subsection, habitat variables were recorded. In this study 140 signs including direct and indirect signs were recorded from 40 segments that were surveyed. Otter spraint abundance were identified from 34 segments (85 per cent occurrence) while the rest of the segments were considered as non-otter sites. One way ANOVA between encounter rates in different habitats showed that there is a significant difference in encounter rates between the different habitats (p value 0.0004583; F= 7.6099). Correlation between encountered rates of spraints in tea plantation showed that there is a significant difference between shoreline vegetation width and species occurrence. In this study, it is revealed that the distance of human modification was more, which helped to decrease the negative effects of human induced disturbances.